The validity of presence at every single Olympic venue, access to every possible event, free transportation and the goggled eyes of the curious passersby, enviously staring at your oversize badge, hanging long from down the neck on the chest at all times except when asleep like a log after a hectic day in the enticing hotel bed – that’s what the Olympic Accreditation is. It also means running like crazy from one place to another to get a glimpse of what’s going on.

When officially accredited, you want to be magically ubiquitous in the Olympic town which is practically impossible to do – there are conflicts of interest on the busy schedule of events all the time. Accreditation means pleasure, hard work, responsibility, power, rights and obligations, and a sense of confidence that you are legally and indispensably an inseparable and immune part of the huge Olympic family. Accreditation puts you at a special desk in the tribunes, allocated for media representatives for comfortable writing, supplied with electrical sockets to stick a fitting plug in, desk-lamps and individual TV screens for watching the details you don’t want to miss if you are a paid journalist. If accredited, the special Games’ vehicles are at your disposal to reach any destination, and the underground card in the pocket whizzes you in any desirable direction, fitting in your day’s plan. Free bottles of spring water, offered by smiling and caring volunteer workforce is also part of the accreditation. Speaking of the Olympic Workforce, consisting of patient and well-oriented men and women of any age and origin, they are extremely badge-oriented, strictly defining the spot of your belonging on the territory. The accreditation badge carries myriad letters and numbers precisely denoting your place and role in the Games and it is the job of working volunteers to usher you around unmistakably – blunders and bungles also taking place. In most cases, your Accreditation makes you feel well taken care of, in certain events even nursed like a baby. Olympic Accreditation means to be part of history, evolving right in front of your eyes, clearly reflecting all good and bad outcomes concerning your country. Accreditation involves spending money by your sponsor for guaranteeing your presence in the Olympic Games which you want to justify at all costs – nobody wants to be a good-for-nothing part of history. It is also noteworthy that you cannot get an Accreditation unless you are functional in the process, and to be functional means that you are doing something worth the money, spent on your accreditation. It is too bad if you are not functional and you still have an Accreditation for some unlikely reason, but this could also be a case — and quite often too — depending on the judgment by the powers that be. Accreditation means sweat in the first place, inevitably accompanied by a guilty conscience if your athlete comes to a cropper all of a sudden, and with a sense of elation if another one manages to cut the mustard. As both may happen, you better be careful not to eat your Accreditation badge up when stricken badly by emotion. If you do by any chance, you might immediately turn into nobody – that’s how powerful the Olympic Accreditation is!

The ISAF operation in Afghanistan is coming to its conclusion, but that doesn't mean that foreign soldiers will not be there anymore. Georgia, despite not being a NATO member, will remain among the leaders when it comes to the amount

One hundred Georgian soldiers will be sent to the Central African Republic to participate in the EU peacekeeping mission there. Georgian soldiers will leave in May 2014 for six months. “As head of the Georgian armed forces, I believe we should participate in the mission, I appeal to the Parliament to support this issue,” President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili stated during his first annual report to the Parliament on 21 February. Both the parliamentary majority and minority voted in favor of sending troops. However, certain members of the non-parliamentary opposition have criticized the parliament’s decision.

On 10 February, Special Forces staged a successful fire testing of armoured helmets and vests on the Vashlijvari shooting ground (located in a Tbilisi suburb). The Georgian products passed the test in presence of the Special Forces. The helmets withstood bullets shot from TT and Glock pistols at a five-meter distance. Interestingly, armoured vests managed to hold off bullets shot from an AKM automated rifle and even armour-piercing sniper SVD. The Georgian armoured helmets and vests proved to be superior.

The EU has asked Georgia to contribute to its military mission in the Central African Republic, Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania said. Georgia currently has 1,560 soldiers in Afghanistan, making the country the fifth largest contributor to the ISAF mission after the U.S., UK, Germany and Italy.On February 16 Agence France-Presse (AFP), also citing European diplomats, reported that Georgia could supply up to 100 troops.

In tandem with TbilAviaMsheni, the military-scientific technical center Delta has just presented another modification of the Didgori armored vehicle created for the sole purpose of ensuring communication among military units. The shape of the new Didgori does not differ much from that of previous versions, but the sharp-eyed will remark the peculiar rear of the vehicle, and different radio antennas rather than weapons on the roof.

Two Georgian battalions (1600 soldiers) will remain in Afghanistan till the completion of the ISAF mission at the end of 2014. The decision was disclosed during an official meeting between high ranking officials from the Georgian Defense Ministry and their colleagues from the Pentagon, in the course of an official visit of the Georgian delegation to America. The news comes in contrast to earlier informal reports from the Defense Ministry that it was considering cancellation of the next rotation of one of the two battalions in the summer of 2014, in order to reduce the size of the Georgian contingent staying in Afghanistan till the end of the ISAF mission from 1600 to 900.